Finder Periscopic Telescope 8x, Zeiss Karoly Györ - Sankt Georg, circa 1903

Zielfernrohr or 8x Periscopic Finder/Pointer Telescope, made entirely of bronze by "Zeiss Karoly Györ". It was used as a finder/pointer telescope to coordinate the preliminary surveys useful for the firing carried out by the only battery of 240 mm caliber guns existing on the Armored Cruiser Sankt Georg in 1903.

The armored cruiser Sankt Georg was the only battleship of the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Navy to adopt 2 240 mm guns for which this scope was specially created which, in fact, bears the same marks and technical indications relating to the guns themselves: “24 cmG.L/40 N4R” produced by Skoda.

In fact, the Periscopic Seeker Telescope was installed in a specific turret used as a fire direction system under the control bridge, just above the twin bow tower.

Inside the Periscope, in addition to the reticle, there are the complete and perfectly functional mechanisms which activate the 4 colored filters and the focusing.

Its dimensions are 45 cm x 17 cm x 8 cm, weight 5 kg.

Zeiss Karoly Györ was the brand affixed to all optics and instruments made in the factory located in Hungarian territory and identified the equivalent of Carl Zeiss Wien and Jena.

The Sankt Georg was an armored cruiser belonging to the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Navy launched on 8 December 1903 in the Pola Arsenal shipyards and entered service on 31 July 1905. Its full load displacement was over 8000 tons and its length reached 124 metres, its 2 alternative 4-cylinder triple expansion engines developed a power of 12000 HP, allowing it to reach a maximum speed of 22 knots. Her effective permanent crew consisted of 32 officers and 589 sailors.

Its armament consisted of 2 single 240 mm Krupp pieces (it was the only ship to adopt them), 5 single 190 mm Skoda pieces, 4 single 150 mm CR pieces, 9 single 70 mm Skoda pieces, 6 single pieces Skoda 47 mm rapid fire, 2 single pieces Skoda 37 mm, of 4 Hotchkiss 37 mm machine guns, n. 2 x 450 mm Fiume Mk.2 AH torpedo launchers.

The career of this ship was without major incidents, like most units of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the Sankt Georg spent the wartime locked up in equipped Navy bases, rarely venturing into the open sea. Her task was to engage the Allied forces otherwise operating on other fronts.

In 1920 she was sold to Great Britain on account of war reparations, which, the same year, sold her to Italian ship breakers.